After eight seasons of sitting on the judge’s panel on the hit television series American Idol, Paula Abdul has officially decided to leave the show. The show seemed to be inching in that direction anyway by bringing in another female judge at the start of last season, yet Paula seemed to have had a choice. If the officials at American Idol were forcing Abdul’s hand, they certainly covered it up well. Abdul announced the decision on her Twitter page.
While American Idol is certainly a fairly established show to say the least, will the loss of Abdul hurt them or help them? It depends on who you ask really.
When you look at the fan base for American Idol, it is not so cut and dried. Surely the younger generation will care less about the loss of Abdul. Where Paula really helped American Idol was with her generation of fans. Any child that grew up in the eighties know and love Paula. She was a mega star throughout that decade. The older generation also seems to have taken to Abdul, probably as a result of her kind spirit to the contestants.
Abdul did provide a nice yen to Simon Cowell’s yang. Simon’s brash attitude was offset by Abdul quite well in the early days of Idol. In recent years, however, Abdul has come off as everything from ignorant to blissfully unaware. On air gaffes, and plenty of speculation about her state of mind surely played a part in her leaving American Idol. Cowell himself seemed to spend half of the show either laughing at her or making fun of her. Abdul truly deserves more, and she is better off moving on in my opinion.
Rumors have been flying around that Paula may join the judges on the other Fox hit reality show, So You Think You Can Dance. This would be a marriage made in heaven for both Paula and the show itself. As good as Abdul was as a singer, she was a much more talented dancer and choreographer. Her knowledge in the world of dance would be a huge boon to the show, as well as give them a shot of star credibility. It would also allow Paula a fresh start on a new show.
As for American Idol, it will survive with flying colors. The show is bigger than any one star, save possibly for Cowell, and it will thrive regardless of Abdul leaving. At this point in television history, one would be hard pressed to find a show that is more popular. Hopefully, American Idol does not take this and panic. If they start changing up the format of the show, and playing with the rules such as they did last season, they could end up with a problem. Do not break what is not broken by tinkering with it. American Idol is an autopilot show if ever their was one.
